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First Day
-
Novel IV

[Voice:
dioneo
]

[
001
]
A monk lapses into a sin meriting the most severe punishment,
justly censures the same fault in his abbot, and
thus evades the penalty.

[Voice:
author
]

[
002
]
The silence which followed the conclusion of Filomena's tale
was broken by Dioneo, who sate next her, and without waiting for
the queen's word, for he knew that by the rule laid down at the
commencement it was now his turn to speak, began on this wise:

[Voice:
dioneo
]

[
003
]
Loving ladies, if I have well understood the intention of you all, we
are here to afford entertainment to one another by story-telling;
wherefore, provided only nought is done that is repugnant to this
end, I deem it lawful for each (and so said our queen a little while
ago) to tell whatever story seems to him most likely to be amusing.
Seeing, then, that we have heard how Abraham saved his soul by the
good counsel of Jehannot de Chevigny, and Melchisedech by his own
good sense safe-guarded his wealth against the stratagems of Saladin,
I hope to escape your censure in narrating a brief story of a monk,
who by his address delivered his body from imminent peril of most
severe chastisement.

[Voice:
dioneo
]

[
004
]
In the not very remote district of Lunigiana there flourished
formerly a community of monks more numerous and holy than is
there to be found to-day, among whom was a young brother, whose
vigour and lustihood neither the fasts nor the vigils availed to subdue.
[
005
]
One afternoon, while the rest of the confraternity slept, our young
monk took a stroll around the church, which lay in a very sequestered
spot, and chanced to espy a young and very beautiful girl, a
daughter, perhaps, of one of the husbandmen of those parts, going
through the fields and gathering herbs as she went. No sooner had
he seen her than he was sharply assailed by carnal concupiscence,
[
006
]
insomuch that he made up to and accosted her; and (she hearkening)
little by little they came to an understanding, and unobserved
by any entered his cell together. [
007
]
Now it so chanced that, while
they fooled it within somewhat recklessly, he being overwrought
with passion, the abbot awoke and passing slowly by the young
monk's cell, heard the noise which they made within, and the better
to distinguish the voices, came softly up to the door of the cell, and
listening discovered that beyond all doubt there was a woman within.
His first thought was to force the door open; but, changing his
mind, he returned to his chamber and waited until the monk should
come out.

[Voice:
dioneo
]

[
008
]
Delightsome beyond measure though the monk found his
intercourse with the girl, yet was he not altogether without anxiety.
He had heard, as he thought, the sound of footsteps in the dormitory,
and having applied his eye to a convenient aperture had had a good
view of the abbot as he stood by the door listening. He was thus
fully aware that the abbot might have detected the presence of a
woman in the cell. [
009
]
Whereat he was exceedingly distressed, knowing
that he had a severe punishment to expect; but he concealed his
vexation from the girl while he busily cast about in his mind for
some way of escape from his embarrassment. [
010
]
He thus hit on a novel
stratagem which was exactly suited to his purpose. With the air of
one who had had enough of the girl's company he said to her:
“
I
shall now leave you in order that I may arrange for your departure
hence unobserved. Stay here quietly until I return.
”
[
011
]
So out he
went, locking the door of the cell, and withdrawing the key, which
he carried straight to the abbot's chamber and handed to him, as was
the custom when a monk was going out, saying with a composed air:
“
Sir, I was not able this morning to bring in all the faggots which I
had made ready, so with your leave I will go to the wood and bring
them in.
”
[
012
]
The abbot, desiring to have better cognisance of the
monk's offence, and not dreaming that the monk knew that he had
been detected, was pleased with the turn matters had taken, and
received the key gladly, at the same time giving the monk the desired
leave.
[
013
]
So the monk withdrew, and the abbot began to consider what
course it were best for him to take, whether to assemble the brotherhood
and open the door in their presence, that, being witnesses of
the delinquency, they might have no cause to murmur against him
when he proceeded to punish the delinquent, or whether it were not
better first to learn from the girl's own lips how it had come about.
[
014
]
And reflecting that she might be the wife or daughter of some man
who would take it ill that she should be shamed by being exposed to
the gaze of all the monks, he determined first of all to find out who
she was, and then to make up his mind. So he went softly to the
cell, opened the door, and, having entered, closed it behind him.
The girl, seeing that her visitor was none other than the abbot, quite
lost her presence of mind, and quaking with shame began to weep.
[
015
]
Master abbot surveyed her from head to foot, and seeing that she
was fresh and comely, fell a prey, old though he was, to fleshly
cravings no less poignant and sudden than those which the young
monk had experienced, and began thus to commune with himself:
“
Alas! why take I not my pleasure when I may, seeing that I
never need lack for occasions of trouble and vexation of spirit? Here
is a fair wench, and no one in the world to know. If I can bring her
to pleasure me, I know not why I should not do so.
[
016
]
Who will
know? No one will ever know; and sin that is hidden is half
forgiven; this chance may never come again; so, methinks, it were
the part of wisdom to take the boon which God bestows.
”
[
017
]
So
musing, with an altogether different purpose from that with which
he had come, he drew near the girl, and softly bade her to be
comforted, and besought her not to weep; and so little by little he
came at last to show her what he would be at. [
018
]
The girl, being
made neither of iron nor of adamant, was readily induced to gratify
the abbot, who after bestowing upon her many an embrace and
kiss, got upon the monk's bed, where, being sensible, perhaps, of the
disparity between his reverend portliness and her tender youth, and
fearing to injure her by his excessive weight, he refrained from lying
upon her, but laid her upon him, and in that manner disported
himself with her for a long time.
[
019
]
The monk, who had only pretended
to go to the wood, and had concealed himself in the dormitory,
no sooner saw the abbot enter his cell than he was overjoyed to
think that his plan would succeed; and when he saw that he had
locked the door, he was well assured thereof. So he stole out of his
hiding-place, and set his eye to an aperture through which he saw
and heard all that the abbot did and said.
[
020
]
At length the abbot,
having had enough of dalliance with the girl, locked her in the cell
and returned to his chamber. Catching sight of the monk soon
afterwards, and supposing him to have returned from the wood,
he determined to give him a sharp reprimand and have him
imprisoned, that he might thus secure the prey for himself alone.
He therefore caused him to be summoned, chid him very severely and
with a stern countenance, and ordered him to be put in prison.
[
021
]
The
monk replied trippingly:
“
Sir, I have not been so long in the order
of St. Benedict as to have every particular of the rule by heart; nor
did you teach me before to-day in what posture it behoves the monk
to have intercourse with women, but limited your instruction to such
matters as fasts and vigils. As, however, you have now given me
my lesson, I promise you, if you also pardon my offence, that I will
never repeat it, but will always follow the example which you have
set me.
”

[Voice:
dioneo
]

[
022
]
The abbot, who was a shrewd man, saw at once that the monk
was not only more knowing than he, but had actually seen what he
had done; nor, conscience-stricken himself, could he for shame mete
out to the monk a measure which he himself merited. So pardon
given, with an injunction to bury what had been seen in silence,
they decently conveyed the young girl out of the monastery, whither,
it is to be believed, they now and again caused her to return.